TentPak

ABSTRACT

The TentPak is a hiking backpack wherein the tent is stored in the waist strap of the backpack. The tent floor is sewn into the waist strap. The waist strap unzips to reveal the tent material. The backpack is used as the frame of the one person tent as four of the six tent pole pockets are on the backpack itself.

2. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

a. N/A

3. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a. While backpacking, it can be cumbersome to attach a tent and sleeping bag to the backpack and hike with it rocking around by your head. I have sought to eliminate that for the individual backpacker who wishes to use a single person tent. Attempts have been made in this endeavor, but do not really embed the functionality of the tent with the backpack and do not make tent setup any easier. To my knowledge, nobody has embedded the functionality of the tent with the backpack in the manner that I have created.

4. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

a. My TentPak is a backpacking backpack with a one person tent sewn into the waist strap. The waist strap can be worn as usual when hiking, and when ready to set the tent up the waist strap can be unzipped, allowing the tent fabric to be pulled out and wrapped around the backpack. With the tent poles inserted into the pole pockets the tent can be zipped up. The backpack acts as a main part of the base structure of the tent, with 4 of the 6 pole pockets stitched into the main structure of the backpack. The bottom of the backpack when unzipped acts as a pillow and optionally can have the sleeping bag attached to the backpack, which is stuffed into the bottom partition of the backpack when hiking. This optional sleeping bag attachment can be zippered on or the camper can stuff their own sleeping bag into the partition.

b. The tent poles are standard fiberglass collapsible poles and when collapsed are stored in an exterior pocket of the backpack.

c. The backpack itself can have any manner of pockets and tie straps, including a cellphone pocket on the waist strap that is tight, with a rubber strip, so that the phone won't fall out. This keeps the cellphone from being stored in the hiker's pocket, rubbing on the waist strap and difficult to pull out with the backpack on.

5. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

a. FIG. A depicts TentPak in its closed up hiking form able to be used as a typical hiking backpack. Item 1 is the zipper (shown by the dark line and dark dashed line) that opens the waist strap to unveil the tent material. Item 2 is the pocket on the exterior of the backpack holding the tent poles. Item 3 is one of the reinforced pockets for the ends of the tent poles for use when the tent is setup.

b. FIG. B depicts TentPak from a bird's eye view when the tent is setup. Item 7 is the transparent portion of the tent acting as a window for the camper to view the stars.

c. FIG. C depicts TentPak in the process of being setup into tent form. The waist strap has been unzipped and the two halves of the tent have been pulled around the backpack. Item 4 is the zipper that connects the two halves of the tent. Item 5 is the foldout pillow at the bottom of the backpack.

d. FIG. D depicts TentPak fully zipped up in tent form. Item 6 are the poles which are placed inside the tent through pole sleeves to keep them in place and inserted into the pole pockets.

e. Not shown in any diagram optionally an additional zipper for entry could be placed along a side wall of the tent for easier entry into the tent. However, the comfort of the hiker would need to be considered with the addition of an extra zipper.

6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

a. TentPak is a hiking backpack with a tent sewn into the inside of the waist strap of the backpack. The waist strap has a zipper running along the bottom edge and up the sides. The backpack has two tent pole pockets stitched to the inside of the top cover of the backpack and two tent pole pockets stitched to the ends of the waist strap as shown in FIG. D. The material for the tent is stored folded in the waist strap of the backpack. The poles for the tent are stored in a vertical pocket on the exterior lateral side of the backpack.

b. To setup the tent, the backpack should be placed in the desired tent location. The poles should be removed from their pocket and set aside. The waist strap is then unzipped and the head end of the tent is pulled over and around the top of the backpack. The backpack is then laid down flat on the ground with the opened waist strap extending laterally flat on the ground. The foot end of the tent is then pulled out. The bottom flap of the backpack may be opened at this point to reveal the pillow that is attached to the bottom flap of the backpack. At this point the tent formation should appear as in FIG. C. The poles may now be extended and slid into place through the interior pole sleeves with the ends fitting into the reinforced pole pockets. To close up the tent the zipper (FIG. D item 4) is zipped up. The tent should appear now as in FIG. D. There is a clear window made of clear PVC fabric on the top of the tent above the pillow as shown in FIGS. B and D.

c. Optionally, the pole pockets that the ends of the poles fit into can be stitched to the exterior of the tent fabric rather than on the backpack. This would allow for the poles to be on the exterior of the tent thus allowing for an optional rainfly. 

1. The tent material is stored in the waist strap of the backpack.
 2. The backpack is used as a frame to the tent with the tent pole pockets on the backpack into which the tent poles are inserted. 